Here, together for the first time, are the shorter works of best-selling author Jim Butcher - a compendium of cases that Harry and his cadre of allies managed to close in record time. The tales range from the deadly serious to the absurdly hilarious.

5 out of 5 stars

Know what sucks about this book?

By
Brian
on
11-02-10

Skin Game

A Novel of the Dresden Files, Book 15

By:
Jim Butcher

Narrated by:
James Marsters

Length: 15 hrs and 49 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
22,985

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
21,408

Story

5 out of 5 stars
21,315

Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, is about to have a very bad day.… Because as Winter Knight to the Queen of Air and Darkness, Harry never knows what the scheming Mab might want him to do. Usually, it’s something awful. He doesn’t know the half of it… Mab has just traded Harry’s skills to pay off one of her debts. And now he must help a group of supernatural villains - led by one of Harry’s most dreaded and despised enemies, Nicodemus Archleone - to break into the highest-security vault in town, so that they can then access the highest-security vault in the Nevernever.

5 out of 5 stars

Hold onto your staff; Harry’s back.

By
Don Gilbert
on
05-29-14

Shadowed Souls

By:
Jim Butcher - editor,
Kerrie L. Hughes - editor

Narrated by:
Jim Butcher,
Julia Whelan,
Emily Rankin,
and others

Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
1,713

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
1,597

Story

4 out of 5 stars
1,599

In this dark and gritty collection - featuring short stories from Jim Butcher, Seanan McGuire, Kevin J. Anderson, and Rob Thurman - nothing is as simple as black and white, light and dark, good and evil.... Unfortunately, that's exactly what makes it so easy to cross the line.

3 out of 5 stars

If you're looking for Dresden, don't bother…

By
JWinkler
on
01-20-17

Cold Days

The Dresden Files, Book 14

By:
Jim Butcher

Narrated by:
James Marsters

Length: 18 hrs and 47 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
21,133

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
19,539

Story

5 out of 5 stars
19,495

After being murdered by a mystery assailant, navigating his way through the realm between life and death, and being brought back to the mortal world, Harry realizes that maybe death wasn’t all that bad - because he is no longer Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard. He is now Harry Dresden, Winter Knight to Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness. After Harry had no choice but to swear his fealty, Mab wasn’t about to let something as petty as death steal away the prize she had sought for so long.

5 out of 5 stars

Thwarts Every Expectation - In a Good Way

By
A reader
on
12-21-12

Working for Bigfoot

By:
Jim Butcher

Narrated by:
James Marsters

Length: 3 hrs and 44 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
5,819

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
5,429

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
5,411

Chicago wizard-for-hire Harry Dresden is used to mysterious clients with long hair and legs up to here. But when it turns out the long hair covers every square inch of his latest client's body, and the legs contribute to a nine-foot height, even the redoubtable detective realizes he's treading new ground. Strength of a River in His Shoulders is one of the legendary forest people, a bigfoot, and he has a problem that only Harry can solve. His son, Irwin, is a scion, the child of a supernatural creature and a human.

4 out of 5 stars

So That's Who River Shoulders Is!

By
Phillip
on
08-05-15

Ghost Story

A Novel of the Dresden Files

By:
Jim Butcher

Narrated by:
James Marsters

Length: 17 hrs and 36 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
14,735

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
13,730

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
13,664

When an unknown someone shoots him and leaves him to die, Harry Dresden hopes he might be heading to a better place. Unfortunately being dead doesn't make Harry's life any easier. Trapped between life and death, he learns that his friends are in serious trouble. Only by finding his murderer can he save his friends and move on - a feat that would be a lot easier if he had a body and access to his powers. Worse still are the malevolent shadows that roam Chicago, controlled by a dark entity that wants Harry to suffer even in death.

5 out of 5 stars

Best thing I've ever seen a company willingly do

By
Brooks Hamilton
on
04-21-15

Side Jobs

Stories from the Dresden Files

By:
Jim Butcher

Narrated by:
James Marsters

Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
11,775

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
10,086

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
10,076

Here, together for the first time, are the shorter works of best-selling author Jim Butcher - a compendium of cases that Harry and his cadre of allies managed to close in record time. The tales range from the deadly serious to the absurdly hilarious.

5 out of 5 stars

Know what sucks about this book?

By
Brian
on
11-02-10

Skin Game

A Novel of the Dresden Files, Book 15

By:
Jim Butcher

Narrated by:
James Marsters

Length: 15 hrs and 49 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
22,985

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
21,408

Story

5 out of 5 stars
21,315

Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, is about to have a very bad day.… Because as Winter Knight to the Queen of Air and Darkness, Harry never knows what the scheming Mab might want him to do. Usually, it’s something awful. He doesn’t know the half of it… Mab has just traded Harry’s skills to pay off one of her debts. And now he must help a group of supernatural villains - led by one of Harry’s most dreaded and despised enemies, Nicodemus Archleone - to break into the highest-security vault in town, so that they can then access the highest-security vault in the Nevernever.

5 out of 5 stars

Hold onto your staff; Harry’s back.

By
Don Gilbert
on
05-29-14

Shadowed Souls

By:
Jim Butcher - editor,
Kerrie L. Hughes - editor

Narrated by:
Jim Butcher,
Julia Whelan,
Emily Rankin,
and others

Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
1,713

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
1,597

Story

4 out of 5 stars
1,599

In this dark and gritty collection - featuring short stories from Jim Butcher, Seanan McGuire, Kevin J. Anderson, and Rob Thurman - nothing is as simple as black and white, light and dark, good and evil.... Unfortunately, that's exactly what makes it so easy to cross the line.

3 out of 5 stars

If you're looking for Dresden, don't bother…

By
JWinkler
on
01-20-17

Cold Days

The Dresden Files, Book 14

By:
Jim Butcher

Narrated by:
James Marsters

Length: 18 hrs and 47 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
21,133

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
19,539

Story

5 out of 5 stars
19,495

After being murdered by a mystery assailant, navigating his way through the realm between life and death, and being brought back to the mortal world, Harry realizes that maybe death wasn’t all that bad - because he is no longer Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard. He is now Harry Dresden, Winter Knight to Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness. After Harry had no choice but to swear his fealty, Mab wasn’t about to let something as petty as death steal away the prize she had sought for so long.

5 out of 5 stars

Thwarts Every Expectation - In a Good Way

By
A reader
on
12-21-12

Working for Bigfoot

By:
Jim Butcher

Narrated by:
James Marsters

Length: 3 hrs and 44 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
5,819

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
5,429

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
5,411

Chicago wizard-for-hire Harry Dresden is used to mysterious clients with long hair and legs up to here. But when it turns out the long hair covers every square inch of his latest client's body, and the legs contribute to a nine-foot height, even the redoubtable detective realizes he's treading new ground. Strength of a River in His Shoulders is one of the legendary forest people, a bigfoot, and he has a problem that only Harry can solve. His son, Irwin, is a scion, the child of a supernatural creature and a human.

4 out of 5 stars

So That's Who River Shoulders Is!

By
Phillip
on
08-05-15

Ghost Story

A Novel of the Dresden Files

By:
Jim Butcher

Narrated by:
James Marsters

Length: 17 hrs and 36 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
14,735

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
13,730

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
13,664

When an unknown someone shoots him and leaves him to die, Harry Dresden hopes he might be heading to a better place. Unfortunately being dead doesn't make Harry's life any easier. Trapped between life and death, he learns that his friends are in serious trouble. Only by finding his murderer can he save his friends and move on - a feat that would be a lot easier if he had a body and access to his powers. Worse still are the malevolent shadows that roam Chicago, controlled by a dark entity that wants Harry to suffer even in death.

5 out of 5 stars

Best thing I've ever seen a company willingly do

By
Brooks Hamilton
on
04-21-15

Changes: The Dresden Files, Book 12

By:
Jim Butcher

Narrated by:
James Marsters

Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
20,124

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
17,704

Story

5 out of 5 stars
17,639

Long ago, Susan Rodriguez was Harry Dresden's lover-until she was attacked by his enemies, leaving her torn between her own humanity and the bloodlust of the vampiric Red Court. Susan then disappeared to South America, where she could fight both her savage gift and those who cursed her with it.Now Arianna Ortega, Duchess of the Red Court, has discovered a secret Susan has long kept, and she plans to use it-against Harry.

5 out of 5 stars

WOW. I'm stunned!

By
Julie
on
04-27-10

Turn Coat

The Dresden Files, Book 11

By:
Jim Butcher

Narrated by:
James Marsters

Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
19,371

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
17,095

Story

5 out of 5 stars
17,048

The Warden Morgan has been accused of treason against the Wizards of the White Council - and there's only one, final punishment for that crime. He's on the run, wants his name cleared, and needs someone with a knack for backing the underdog. Someone like Harry Dresden....

5 out of 5 stars

Worthy Addition To The Series

By
Lisa
on
05-06-09

Small Favor

The Dresden Files, Book 10

By:
Jim Butcher

Narrated by:
James Marsters

Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
19,045

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
16,885

Story

5 out of 5 stars
16,814

No one's tried to kill Harry Dresden for almost an entire year, and his life finally seems to be calming down. For once, the future looks fairly bright. But the past casts one hell of a long shadow.

4 out of 5 stars

Missing 2 minutes of audio!

By
Daniel Eggert
on
12-15-15

Peace Talks

Dresden Files, Book 16

By:
Jim Butcher

Length: 17 hrs

Unabridged

Overall

0 out of 5 stars
0

Performance

0 out of 5 stars
0

Story

0 out of 5 stars
0

When the supernatural nations of the world meet up to negotiate an end to ongoing hostilities, Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, joins the White Council's security team to make sure the talks stay civil. But can he succeed, when dark political manipulations threaten the very existence of Chicago - and all he holds dear?

White Night

The Dresden Files, Book 9

By:
Jim Butcher

Narrated by:
James Marsters

Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
19,250

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
17,064

Story

5 out of 5 stars
16,982

In Chicago, someone has been killing practitioners of magic, those incapable of becoming full-fledged wizards. Shockingly, all the evidence points to Harry Dresden's half brother, Thomas, as the murderer. Determined to clear his sibling's name, Harry uncovers a conspiracy within the White Council of Wizards that threatens not only him, but his nearest and dearest, too.

5 out of 5 stars

Intrigue in The White Court

By
Donna
on
09-23-09

Proven Guilty

The Dresden Files, Book 8

By:
Jim Butcher

Narrated by:
James Marsters

Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
20,266

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
17,921

Story

5 out of 5 stars
17,813

The White Council of Wizards has drafted Harry Dresden as a Warden and assigned him to look into rumors of black magic in Chicago. Malevolent entities that feed on fear are loose in the Windy City, but it's all in a day's work for a wizard, his faithful dog, and a talking skull named Bob.

4 out of 5 stars

Plan of attack

By
RabidReads
on
10-09-15

Dead Beat

The Dresden Files, Book 7

By:
Jim Butcher

Narrated by:
James Marsters

Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
21,306

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
18,913

Story

5 out of 5 stars
18,824

When a killer vampire threatens to destroy head of Special Investigations Karrin Murphy's reputation, unless Harry delivers the powerful Word of Kemmler to her, he has no choice. Now Harry is in a race against time to find the Word before Chicago experiences a Halloween night to wake the dead.

5 out of 5 stars

Zombie t-rex. Enough said!

By
RabidReads
on
08-21-15

Battle Ground

By:
Jim Butcher

Length: 17 hrs

Unabridged

Overall

0 out of 5 stars
0

Performance

0 out of 5 stars
0

Story

0 out of 5 stars
0

Harry has faced terrible odds before. He has a long history of fighting enemies above his weight class. But this time it’s different. A being more powerful and dangerous on an order of magnitude beyond what the world has seen in a millennium is coming. And she’s bringing an army. The Last Titan has declared war on the city of Chicago, and has come to subjugate humanity, obliterating any who stand in her way. Harry’s mission is simple but impossible: Save the city by killing a Titan.

Blood Rites

The Dresden Files, Book 6

By:
Jim Butcher

Narrated by:
James Marsters

Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
20,494

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
18,130

Story

5 out of 5 stars
18,062

Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, takes on a case as a favor to his friend Thomas - a vampire of dubious integrity - only to become the prime suspect in a series of ghastly murders.

5 out of 5 stars

Worth the wait!

By
Hakes
on
04-14-10

Death Masks

The Dresden Files, Book 5

By:
Jim Butcher

Narrated by:
James Marsters

Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
21,329

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
18,775

Story

5 out of 5 stars
18,685

Harry Dresden, Chicago's only practicing professional wizard, should be happy that business is pretty good for a change. But he also knows that whenever things are going good, the only way left for them to go is bad. Way bad. Recent examples: A duel with the lethal champion of the Red Court, who must kill Harry to end the war between vampires and wizards...Hit men using Harry for target practice...The missing Shroud of Turin - and the possible involvement of Chicago's most feared mob boss.

5 out of 5 stars

The Series Really Gets Into Gear

By
Alan
on
01-03-10

Summer Knight

The Dresden Files, Book 4

By:
Jim Butcher

Narrated by:
James Marsters

Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
22,484

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
19,789

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
19,718

The Winter Queen of Faerie has manipulated Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden into accepting a case to solve a murder and stop a war between the courts of Summer and Winter that could have literally earth shattering consequences. His own soul is up for grabs. Dresden must dig deep to discover that at time a willingness to accept a little help from your friends, be they a cub pack of werewolves, old loves in sheep's clothing, or a battalion of pizza loving dewdrop fairies, is a very good thing.

5 out of 5 stars

Harry & James are one.

By
Michael
on
10-28-10

Grave Peril

The Dresden Files, Book 3

By:
Jim Butcher

Narrated by:
James Marsters

Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
24,473

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
21,316

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
21,225

Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden has had a rough couple of weeks. As the only openly practicing professional wizard in the Chicago area, he has squared off against a multitude of supernatural bad guys. Harry has won the day against demons, poltergeists, sorcerers, trolls, vampires, werewolves, and even an evil faerie godmother. You might think nothing could spook him. You would be wrong.

5 out of 5 stars

Spike makes good

By
Lakejewel
on
03-22-10

Publisher's Summary

An all-new Dresden Files story headlines this urban fantasy short story collection starring the Windy City's favorite wizard.

The world of Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, is rife with intrigue - and creatures of all supernatural stripes. And you'll make their intimate acquaintance as Harry delves into the dark side of truth, justice, and the American way in this must-have short story collection.

From the Wild West to the bleachers at Wrigley Field, humans, zombies, incubi, and even fey royalty appear, ready to blur the line between friend and foe. In the never-before-published "Zoo Day", Harry treads new ground as a dad, while fan-favorite characters Molly Carpenter, his onetime apprentice, White Council Warden Anastasia Luccio, and even Bigfoot stalk through the pages of more classic tales.

With 12 stories in all, Brief Cases offers both longtime fans and first-time listeners tantalizing glimpses into Harry's funny, gritty, and unforgettable realm, whetting their appetites for more to come from the wizard with a heart of gold.

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

The original story is great

Quite a lot of this collection has been released elsewhere. Those stories are quite good, but I'm not exactly psyched about buying material I've already enjoyed and having it duplicated. The couple remaining stories and the new original Zoo Day were VERY good and made me hungry for more Dresden again.
Worth the price if most of these are new to you. Worth the credit, at least for me, for the few that were new.

Let's be honest, we all came for Zoo Day.

Brief Cases is a series of short stories following brief moments in Harry Dresden and his friends strange lives and each are lovely. Yes, I purchased the audiobook purely for the last story, Zoo Day(as I had read the others except Day One), and I was not disappointed at all. Without giving much away, Zoo Day has alot more meat than you'd expect. Just a lovely story read by a lovely man.

James should have read the WHOLE thing

James Marsters IS the Dresden-virse. If it was a matter of scheduling they should have waited until he could read the WHOLE THING. They've done it before. John Glover read Ghost Story first and now you can't find that version here if you wanted to, they don't even give him credit for the performance. Personally, I liked Glover's performance but the fan base was so up in arms they re-recorded the story with James. They should do it again with this collection. I don't review things much but, all I can say is that while I enjoyed most of the material, it just isn't the same without James throughout the book.

Not enough new stuff

As always, I loved the stories, however there was not enough new material to have waited this long for a new Dresden book. I felt a little cheated to have used up a credit for only 3 new-to-me stories.

Mostly old stories with one new one hoped for more

After waiting one hella long time for a new Dresden book to come out, Butcher finally gave us a taste of something new. One new short story out of a collection of previously published tales. Now what gets my goat is that he re-collects his bigfoot trilogy here, meaning that he had already had a book just for those tales. I am severely P.O.'d that they were included here, since I had already purchased the Working for Bigfoot book a long time ago. That would be like taking three stories from Cold Cases and re-presenting them here. That would upset a lot of buyers, paying for the same set of stories twice. That move cost 2 stars in the overall. Either write a few extra shorts to fluff out your book, or don't recycle. I might have been able to stomach 1 retread, but not 3.

As for the narration, Marsters does not do all of the voice work. Molly's two stories are read by a lady, Julia Whelan, who does a very nice job, but I would have preferred James. It grated on me when she would say Leanan Sidhe. James says it as La-non-she, she says it as La-nan-she, and it just pushed me out of the story. Seriously, if you are going to narrate a short for a series that has a rabid devotion to its narrator do some simple research. Butter's tale is also not by Marsters, and I see no reason for that at all. Wyman isn't bad, but, again, no reason for it to not be Marsters. The first story, A Fistful of Warlocks by Cassandra Campbell was just flat. I would have preferred Whelan over Campbell. She did not do Anastasia justice. So, overall I am dissatisfied with the narration. That was one star off, I have to be fair, and I understand Marsters can't do everything, but Campbell hurt the story and I barely got through it.

The one shining moment of this book was the last story, A day at the Zoo, in which we got three very different events for the people involved. Maggie, Harry, and Mouse all have a connected but seperate set of experiences while at the zoo, and for me, finally getting to see things from Mouse's perspective was the one thing that made this collection worthwhile. Does it make up for the incredibly long wait we have been forced to endure? No, but at least it shows Butcher can still write Harry adventures. I'm sure I'm being overly critical, because hey, who doesn't like paying for the same exact thing twice? Have a favorite narrator? Let's not use him for eveything! Man, I get that sometimes you want a woman to read a story from a woman's perspective, but marsters has been living these characters for years. If he can't pull off Molly and Anastasia stories who can?

I'm all for collecting tales that not everyone could find, but this was a big disappointment. It is not fantastic, I don't have rose colored glasses on and I do not think that Butcher can do no wrong. There are a lot of things wrong with this book. Nothing horrible, but I really expected more.

I already own most of these.

The bad news is if you're a die hard Dresden fan you probably already own most of these contained in other anthologies. The good news is if you don't own the rest of the anthologies you can skip all the mediocre writing in the others and get your concentrated Dresden fix here. Plus there is a little bit of new material. Disappointingly little, but some.

This one was just a meh for me.

This is for the audio version. I am so used to James Marsters doing the dialogue that I seriously cannot get into the story very well when someone other than James is reading. Although the female that voiced Molly Carpenter did a really good job and that was a very interesting story, my 2nd fave beside the bigfoot trilogy. i hope we see River Shoulders and Irwin again!

I did not care for the one set in the old west, mostly because I've never invested in Luccio's character. And she always seemed more of a plot device than an actual person and that doesn't normally happen in the Dresden verse. I think that Jim Butcher does a great job of making us care for all the characters and show us their good and their bad sides, but she falls short for me.

I really enjoyed the Bigfoot stories and I thought those were extremely well done.

The one I did not care for at all was the one from Marcone's viewpoint and (going out on a limb to say that that one was voiced by Jim Butcher??). Regardless, I don't like his voice. I like his writing, when he leaves off the "me man you woman crap", but really cannot stand his voice. 😔 Even his prologues to each story were grating on my ears. His diction is great but that does not mean he is a great speaker. And that story was the worst of the pile for me. I like Marcone and feel he's went a lot more toward offering a truce than Harry has and this story bugged me because it felt out of character for him. Kind of like a way for us to understand Harrys dislike of the man by putting his words into Marcone's mouth and then to our ears. it didn't work for me.

The story from three points of view at the end..the new one, was okay and it was interesting to see that there might be developments of Maggie and Mouse for the future but I would have skipped this one since I have read all the stories prior except the last one.

Butcher sets the bar so high and James IS Harry Dresden. I would have rather he work on Peace Talks and Mirror Mirror than another anthogy. jmo.

not enough new material to justify price.

I am giving the collection 2 stars because it does not have enough new material. the stories are great and I enjoyed them the first time I purchased them. About 1/3 of the book was previously released as working for Bigfoot. of the remaining stories most of them have been released in other anthologie that if you are a Dresden fan you have gotten multiple recomdations for.

if you have not purchased any of the other books the stores were published in the past it is worth every penny.